4 Places To Find Free Soundtracks For Your YouTube Video

A soundtrack usually introduces a story, eliminates awkward silences and makes your video more stylish. Of course, you already know that adding a tacky soundtrack would kill your video — unless you’re successful through making tacky videos.

Even though soundtracks make videos livelier, they can be quite expensive for someone who’s starting out on YouTube. Don’t fall into the trap of using a hit song on your YouTube video without asking for permission. In no time, you’ll have your video removed for copyright infringement or, if YouTube’s generous, possibly lose partner revenue if it goes viral. Here are some low or no-cost places to get the soundtrack for your latest YouTube video.

AudioSwap

When you’re editing your videos on YouTube using the AudioSwap interface, you can add a soundtrack by choosing from more than 150,000 pre-selected tracks. So if you’re looking for comedic relief, you can find a saxophone track similar to the Benny Hill theme. Otherwise, you can choose tracks ranging from cheesy pop to near-classical music.

Creative Commons

Yes, you can remix selected Creative Commons footage on YouTube, but did you know Creative Commons also has a one-stop search for fair use music? No need to hunt for every royalty-free music website out there; just go on Creative Commons’ CC search and find what type of music you’re looking for in an instant. As with all Creative Commons files, remember to give credit where credit’s due.

SoundCloud

SoundCloud is another great place to find music from popular and independent artists. If you’re looking for that perfect soundtrack for your web series, SoundCloud has thousands of tracks available with Creative Commons licenses. Simply download the track you want and mix it into your video.

Incompetech

Founded by Kevin McLeod, Incompetech’s library includes tracks ranging from Italian wedding music to modern beats. McLeod has a blog on the website where he updates fans about his latest soundtracks. If you want the entire royalty-free catalog of his work, it will cost you $78.

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Ed Carrasco has been in the journalism field for nearly a decade. Some of his photographs/articles have been featured in publications such as the Guardian, LA Weekly, OC Weekly, the Fullertonian, Cerritos-Artesia Patch and Orange Coast Magazine.
He graduated with a bachelor’s degree in English from UCLA and a master’s degree in Journalism from Kingston University in the United Kingdom.